Fish Lips.

When I went in to wake up Luke, this is what I found:

I don't know about you, but sleeping babies and kids (especially my own) just melt my heart and I don't want to wake them up.  Especially when they have those adorable fish lips that they inherited from me.

Mornings like this put a great start on the day.

Spring Layered Frame

Who else is ready for Spring?!
I sure am.  Where I live, there is still snow on the ground....blah.  Ready for warmth!!
So I need some "Spring" in my home until Mother Nature decides to get her act together!

 Here's my Spring Layered Frame.

Supplies:
A couple of frames

Plastic egg

Accordian flower

eCraft 

Jen Allyson Designs SD card

Burlap 

Hot glue

Spray Paint

Ribbon

Adhesives

5x7 piece of cardstock

I had these antiqued frames on hand, waiting for a new fate.

 So I took 2 different sizes and put them aside.
Next, I made an accordian flower.
I then cut out "spring" from the SD card.
Then I took a plastic egg and hot glued it shut.  Once dry and cool, I took an exacto knife and cut the egg in half lengthwise.  Then I spray painted it turquoise blue.

Then I grabbed a 5x7 piece of white paper and placed the "Spring" word and accordian flower on there.  Next, I put some ribbon onto the egg to cover the line.  I placed the egg on top of the flower.  Then I put that into the frame, making sure you take out the glass.

Next, to layer the frames, grab some burlap and string it behind the top frame and loop it around the back of the bottom frame then tie it in a knot!

 All Done!

 Great way to add some "Spring" to your home :)  This has a nice spot on my Entertainment center :)
So what is your favorite Season?!

DIY Dry Erase Board.

Here's what I made this week for the eCraft Design Team.  And sadly, this will be my last week on the Team.  I need life a bit more simple right now.  So I reluctantly resigned.  But hope to get back on in the future when things aren't so crazy here at home!  It's been a wonderful 3 months!

This week's project is SO simple to do.  It took me all of 10 minutes to make.

You just need a frame, scrapbook paper, some bake and shrink paper, and a dry erase marker, along with the eCraft machine, of course ;)

I cut out the "Today" with the eCraft using the bake and shrink paper, pressure to 8 and 5 inches big.
I colored it black then baked it.  It shrunk to a perfect size that fit perfect on the frame.  Since the design I chose to shrink was a bit delicate, it took some prodding on my part to flatten and get back in a descent shape.  But it worked out just fine :)

I took my frame and grabbed some scrapbook paper, cut it to 8x10 and placed that inside the frame.
So now you have a dry erase Today board.  Perfect for the office or kitchen!

Today for me, Laundry, Vacuum and hopefully a NAP!

It's super simple but makes a great statement in your home!  Just make sure you have a dry erase marker that works better than mine!  lol

On the mend.

The past weekend was a bit hectic.  Thursday night, Luke woke up throwing up.  Friday night, I went to a Love & Logic seminar with Emma and Kate.  Usually they are a 3 day seminar but they squeezed it into a day and a half.  It was a great seminar with lots of great ideas that I want to implement for my kids.  So Saturday, we were there from 9 am to 4 pm.  It included lunch.  The girls had so much fun. The church it was held at did a great job at organizing groups for the kids and Emma's group even made soup and gave it to a local retirement home.  What a great idea!
Saturday night, it happened.  After we went to the St. Patrick's day Parade in town, we got back to get the kids to bed and my stomach had turned on me.  Joe and I even watched a pretty funny movie but I just couldn't handle it.  From then until Sunday evening, I couldn't hold anything down.  All through the night, I was heading to the bathroom every hour.  It was probably the worst night of my life!  Lots of bed rest, lots of Netflix documentaries (I suggest a few to watch: Fork over Knife and The Business of Being Born...never watched this many documentaries in my life).  Praying no one else gets this ucky bug.
So now, i'm recooperating.  And my house is a disaster!  Laundry is in great need.  Every single room in the house is trashed.  I am so relieved I am better and can tackled the neglect that occurred over the weekend!  So today is my laundry, bathroom, vacuum, kitchen, trash day.
And you might be wondering what Joe was doing?  He has been a trooper and serving me and the kids hand and foot.  He has been in charge of food, taking kids to church, wake ups and bedtimes.  He is not much for house hold chores but after last night, he started on the kitchen until it was just too late...midnight!  lol  Very grateful for Joe and his selfless service he does for his family.  Sure relieves the anxiety I experience when I am not able to take care of my family.

DIY baby onesie

Anyone headed to a baby shower?  I bet you are!  It's baby shower season...always!  And you can whip us a very, personal present in 10 minutes.

Let me show you how I did it.

Supplies:

ECraft

Color Printer,
INKJET OPAQUE PRINT & CUT

Photoshop

Iron

Parchment Paper

Ok so I started off in Photoshop to make an image that I wanted printed onto my paper. 

Next I took my printed paper and took it to the eCraft and cut it with animage from Jen Allyson Designs.
Then I put it back onto a 4x6 piece of paper for the next step.

I made a word to be printed onto the image.  I made sure to center both the paper and the word so they would line up.

Ta Da!  Lined up!

Get your Onesie ready.  Have a stable, hard surface to work with.

Follow instructions for the paper.  There is a backing that you peel off and then place the image onto your clothing.

Next you place the piece of parchment paper on top of the image.  Then Start on one side and firmly hold iron on image.  Then move to the next section.  Do that over and over again form 5 second intervals for about 45 seconds to 1 minute.

If the parchment doesn't already come off on it's own, wait until cool then slowly peel off.

Then you are done!  An adorable personalized onesie ready to be given away :)

You can find this over at the eCraft Blog today too!!

What are some of your favorite baby shower gifts to give?

A baby shower invitation

My sister is pregos with her first little girl and is due in May.  She's having her shower in March...in UT.  I'm in WA aka Boonville.  So to contribute and help with her shower that is being held at my other sister's home, I made the invitations.

I stuck with the pinks and greys since those are her nursery's colors.  I deleted the address and my personal email address.
Fonts used were The Only Exception & Walkway Bold.  Background paper from Soft Pink paper pack

I recently upgraded to Photoshop Elements 10 and love it.  I have Elements 5 before....I felt as though I were in the dark ages!

PS  Craftwell is back on HSN tomorrow!!  Times will be 10 am, 3pm, & 7 pm ESP.  There are going to be great deals on Craftwell products available for 1 day only!  The Consumer Electronics Show Innovations award winning eCraft will be featured on HSN hosted by Melinda Mckinsey!  You must check this out if you have been looking into getting an electronic die cutting machine.

10 on 10: March 2012

March is here!  Another month for 10 on 10!

breakfast show & tell.
shapes & colors.
morning chores.
favorite blanket.

morning brushing.

6 am play.

sunrise.

daddy/daughter interview.

almost done.

anticipating spring.

the "glamour" of real life.

I was talking to some friends this morning about the love/hate relationship we have with the internet, particularly about blogs and Facebook.  I've had this discussion before, many many times.

Blogs are deceiving because many post life's happy moments.  They then become ideal and perfect in our minds.  Then we start comparing our lives to their perfect lives.  Facebook is the same way.  People update great news, pictures, awards, ideas etc etc.

But you have to remember that THAT is not real life.  Everyone has problems.  Everyone has trials.  They just don't flaunt it online.  And that's fine.  It's their space.  They can do whatever they want.  I used to get really frustrated about that too.  A particular blog did this to me.  It was only after talking to friends & family of the author and even reading archives of said blog that she was imperfect.  It gave me a glimpse of the "behind the scenes" of "perfect" blogs.

So now, when I read a blog, I read it with a grain of salt.  Always.  If it seems they can do everything.  They can't.  They are probably neglecting their kids, their marriage is hurting, she hires a maid to clean the house etc etc.  So many things.

So in celebration of our discussion, here's first a story of what happened today when I went to pick up Emma from school.  Luke has this fabulous habit of running off when I tell the kids to get in the van.  Today, he chose to run down the neighbors driveway.  So I closed the doors and started driving away, telling him, "bye!!"  I was at the end of my driveway when I stopped and watched him run back down the driveway towards the van.  Once he got close, I came out of the car to get him.  Of course, he then started running away again.  So, being very motherly, I ran after him, yelling and trying to control the anger that was building up inside of me.  I snatched him up and gave him a few "light" swats on the behind.  I kept sternly telling him he needs to come to the van when I told him too.....5 bucks he'll do the same thing next time.  Argh, seriously, this kid.  Not the best "mom" moment, I assure you.

Next, i'm posting pictures what my house looks like right now.  Like right NOW.  These were taken about 20 minutes ago.
Just to show you that I DO NOT have my house clean all the time.   I only go around 2-3 times a day and do a quick clean up to tackle the mess.

This doesn't even cover my room, the laundry room or even the toy room...**shudder**
I think we are all doing what we can.  Let's not judge or assume anything.  Instead, let's help one another and be a bit more understanding. :)

DIY Family Home Evening Board

Don't you love when a project that you have in your mind goes according to plan and it turns out better than you thought?

Let me introduce you to what i'm talking about:

This is our family's Family Home Evening magnet board.  Each week, we get together as a family and do activities, treats, and a lesson.  It's a wonderful way to bond as a family.  My kids love it and look forward to Mondays.  I'll go into details later, but let's see how this baby was born.

Supplies Used:

eCraft machine

Fundamentals 1 SD card
Jen Allyson SD card

CutMates cardstock paper

hot glue

Shrink and Bake paper

Patterned Paper by My Mind's Eye

Alpha mini Stamps from Hobby Lobby

Modge Podge

I started with this.  It's a large print inside a wooden frame. I got this for free. 

Next, I grabbed some metal sheets I got from Home Depot and hot glued them onto the large mounted print that I popped out of the wooden frame.

Next, I grabbed some paper and started the design process.  I added some cut outs from the Fundamentals SD card.  Then I cut out a few more and started grafting some branches in.

 I used Modge Podge to get everything set.

After a hard night's work, my design was finally done!  I used some journaling spots from Joann's $ spot for the labels.  Cut out some letters for my title.  LOTS of leaves as well :)

See, each week, each person in the family will be in charge of spot: Song, Treats, Game, Prayer & Lesson.

So I used my Shrink & Bake to make everyone's individual name tags.  I cut out adorable animal shapes from both SD cards and colored with.

Followed the instructions and got some wonderful name tags!

 So I put on some magnets on the back.

Now we can alternate each week!

 

Here's my Kate helping me show off my latest creation :)

Then I put back into the frame.

 

Now it's on the wall, for all to see!  The kids are really excited to see what they get to do each week.

And what's fun is that they can play with the animals and board too!  I am probably going to make some more creatures for them to play with.

Do you like to do DIY redos?  I think i'm addicted!

This project is being posted over at the eCraft Blog too!  Go check out the wonderful creations we have there every day of the week!